June 10, 2010

White Dog's neighborhood nemesis is a cat with her exact same coloring, named Cauliflower, who lives next door. Cauliflower does not respect the boundaries of our property and takes great delight in tormenting White Dog by sitting on driveway and by using our yard as her litter box/hunting grounds. White Dog is further irritated because Michael (who indiscriminately, in her eyes, loves all furry creatures) has made friends with said feline. Cauliflower's friendship with Michael has emboldened the cat even more.

White Dog was sleeping on the floor next to me as I painted this afternoon. I saw Cauliflower on our wall in the yard and was thankful that White Dog's nap prevented a barking frenzy. I kept working and looked up shortly later because I caught a movement across the deck. There was Cauliflower sitting just outside the dog door, cleaning herself! White Dog's internal intruder radar was set off and she woke confused but barking. When she actually registered who the intruder was she called for backup from The Other White Dog (who was also napping but on the front porch).

She was through the door fast enough that Cauliflower almost did not make it to the railing of the deck and up the tree without missing fur. White Dog and her brother made sure the treed cat knew that they were not amused; nor were they planning on just walking away from her in the tree.

The cat looked around nervously surveying the situation. You could almost hear her calculating. White Dog and Quinn were smug; they had her now, it was just a matter of waiting...or was it? Cauliflower tensed up her muscles, ran along the branch that reached out to the wall and threw herself from the tree. She managed to grab the wall with both front paws and haul herself over to the other side just as White Dog demonstrated jumping skills honed in agility class.

No trophy but a bit of excitement on an otherwise boring (teeny bit less) hot summer day.

Milo Update: Things are unchanged. Milo is still not eating and wants to be on the ground rather than on her perch...both previously observed signs that she is growing eggs. We are hopeful that this is her "health issue."